Is Integrity the Most Important Building
Block of Personal Development?
One only needs to flip through the business section of the newspaper to see that integrity in
business is lacking. It seems that on a daily basis there are stories about Wall Street, real estate
and precious metals swindles, bankruptcies caused by corrupt management, and worst of all,
religious leaders who abandon biblical principles in the quest for power and fame.
A few years ago a major department store chain was investigated on charges that their
automotive repair shops had been ripping off consumers for years by charging for work that was
never done, making repairs that were not necessary, and for regularly overcharging customers.
A major automobile manufacturer demoted two high-ranking managers because they failed to
detect a multi-million-dollar racketeering scam perpetrated by one of their dealers.
The FTC once filed charges against three major baby food manufacturers for price fixing
antitrust violations.
A manager wrote in an employee’s personnel file, “he has a high sense of integrity, this
sometimes gets in the way of his getting the job done.”
Sound ridiculous? Maybe, but stories like these are commonplace. Integrity seems to have
disappeared from our business culture. How did this happen? How did we move from a society
where people held to high standards of moral and ethical behavior in business, to buyer and
everyone else beware? To be sure it did not happen overnight.
This kind of behavior is an insidious growth like cancer; by the time you discover it, it is very
difficult to cut out of an organization. An organization with integrity is nothing more than the
sum of the individuals who have integrity. Like yeast that leavens the whole lump, one
individual without integrity has the power to destroy an otherwise sound organization.
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Reviewing the state of society one can only conclude that there is a definite lack of moral
principle, that the principles that do exist are not sound, or both.
The accounting firm of Touche Ross did a survey of nearly 1,100 business, college, and political
leaders in which 73% of respondents said that the CEO of an organization set the moral tone for
the company. Other respondents named the board of directors and one’s supervisor. A Time
magazine article “Having It All, Then Throwing It Away” puts the cost of white collar crime at
$40 billion a year! If CEOs and other managers are setting the tone for corporate ethics we must
be seriously off-key!
The first biblical breach of integrity comes in Genesis 3:6 when Eve took the first bite of the
apple, despite the fact that she knew God’s commandment not to eat from the tree. Ever since
that fateful day, sinful man has lived with lapses of integrity. Only Jesus lived a life of complete
integrity. Every one of the rest of us has to struggle with it every day. One would hope that
since we have the Bible, which provides many accounts of the results of man’s lapses with
integrity, that we would have learned something.
A 1987 Gallup poll reported that 42% of Americans doubt the honesty of some, if not most,
appeals for religious donations. In another Gallup poll, 43% of those who don’t attend religious
services say they have taken home supplies from work. Sadly, so do 37% of churchgoers. Thirtyfour percent of the unchurched report calling in to work sick when they weren’t, as opposed to
27% of the churched. Gallup goes on in situation after situation concluding that “These
findings…show little difference in the ethical behavior of the churched and the unchurched.”
If the churched are only marginally more ethical in daily life than the unchurched, then we need
to put on the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14) and start living the life of integrity for
which we have been set apart! According to Webster’s dictionary, integrity is “soundness of and
adherence to moral principle and character; uprightness, honesty.” The message is clear. Not
only must there be adherence to moral principles, but the principles themselves must be sound.
Of the sixteen times that the word integrity is used in the Old Testament, we find a number of
references to the heart, judgment that comes with a lack of integrity, uprightness, our walk with
God, and the blessing that comes with a life of integrity.
Integral Integrity
The Old Testament refers to “the integrity of heart” three times (Gen 20:5, Gen 20:6, and 1
Kings 9:4). The principle in each of these references is that integrity is something that lives in
our hearts, it is not something to be put on and taken off at will. Integrity of heart is something
you either have or do not have.
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A man with integrity holds it deep within his heart and as God said to Satan regarding Job “…he
still holds fast his integrity” (Job 2:3). The implication from the Hebrew is that Job’s integrity is
fastened to him and that it strengthens him. If a man has integrity, you can see it in his very
nature. It is a part of the man that cannot be separated from him because he “holds fast his
integrity.”
The Benefits of Integrity
In his book Disciplines of a Godly Man, Richard Hughes notes five benefits of integrity:
character, conscience, intimacy, elevation, and evangelism.
Character. Integrity builds character. Paul writing to the Philippians said, “Finally brethren,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute, if there is anything of excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let
your mind dwell on these” (4:8 NAS). By focusing on thinking and doing what is right you will
build character.
Conscience. “He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will be
found out” (Proverbs 10:9). There is enough stress in life without adding the stress that comes
from wondering whether we will ever get “caught.” A man with integrity will boldly hold to his
principles despite the deceitful actions of those around him.
Intimacy. Integrity creates an opportunity for a growing, intimate relationship with God: “Thou
dost desire truth in the innermost being” (Psalm 51:6 NAS). Having the desire to have a clean
heart is a big step toward building an intimate relationship with God.
Elevation. A lack of integrity is like yeast that leavens the lump; it will eventually effect the
entire organization. Likewise, a leader who is an outspoken proponent of integrity tends to build
up those around him by developing their honesty and character. Psalm 78:72 speaks of Jacob as
Israel’s shepherd, “So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided
them with his skillful hands.”
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 20:7, “A righteous man walks in his integrity. How blessed are his
sons after him.” Your example of integrity will not only elevate your peers but will provide an
example for those who will follow after you!
Evangelism. We are examples to the world. It is a sad commentary indeed that churchgoers are
only slightly more honest than the unchurched. We have little hope of convincing others that
there is something special about an intimate relationship with God if it doesn’t show in the way
we lead our lives!
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Getting Started
Ted Engstrom, in his book Integrity, provides many suggestions for building a life of integrity.
The following eight ideas will help you build integrity in your organization:
Look for the good examples in others and follow it. Hebrews 11 is described as the hall of faith.
If you want to see examples of the effect of integrity on people’s lives read this chapter. You
could do much worse than to model your integrity after these men and women.
Take care of what you’re made of, people never forget. Remember the story of Abe Lincoln
walking several miles to return some change to a woman? Do you suppose with a nickname like
“Honest Abe” that Lincoln led a life of integrity? The example you provide to those around you
will live on after you, whether good or bad. Do you want to be remembered as an “Honest Abe”
or “Slimeball Sam”?
Live your life as though it were a tribute to someone else. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “In a
race, everyone runs but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the
contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An
athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a
heavenly reward that never disappears” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25b). A life of integrity is not only
an example to the people around you, but is an example of your relationship with God.
Realize that others will stumble, so prepare yourself to help them. If you have ever stumbled,
then you shouldn’t be surprised when the people around you stumble. When the inevitable
happens, be prepared to help by confronting the issue, and providing correction. If the individual
listens to you, you have strengthened him. If the individual does not listen to your correction,
then what began as a private matter of rebuke may become a more public matter of termination
(See Mat 18:15-20).
Give of your best in the worst of times. Paul wrote to Timothy, “But realize this, that in the last
days difficult times will come” (2 Tim 3:1). Paul goes on to describe the people; lovers of self,
lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient, ungrateful, unholy. Sound like today?
We live in difficult, troubled times. But it is precisely in times like these that we are called upon
to be an example to the world by providing our best, even under the most difficult circumstances.
Look up to those beneath you. It is difficult to build up other people from the safety of an ivory
tower. David Ogilvy, the founder of Ogilvy and Mathers, used to give five progressively smaller
dolls to executives along with a note that read, “If each one of us hires people who are smaller
than we are we will become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger
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than we are we will become a company of giants.” Endeavor to hire giants and give them room
to grow.
Stand up for your convictions. “The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn away from the
snares of death” (Pro 13:14). A wise man knows when a matter of integrity is at stake and will
have the courage to stand up to his convictions. Job was not being insubordinate when arguing
with his friends, but rather, he was adhering to the principles that he held dear.
Develop the good habit of breaking bad ones. We all have bad habits. It is a fact that most New
Year’s resolutions are long forgotten by February because we make too many resolutions that are
too hard to maintain. Pick one “small” bad habit you want to break and work on it every day,
day-to-day. When you have conquered the first bad habit you will have more confidence to take
on the next, larger one.
One Final Thought
Ask yourself the question, “Where can I find people who are examples of a life of integrity?”
Take a look at politicians, sports figures, musicians, entertainers, and business leaders. It’s hard
isn’t it?
While there are many exceptional people in all of these fields that live their lives with integrity, it
is easier for us to recall the politicians sleeping in the wrong beds or taking payoffs, sports
figures convicted of illegal gambling or going through drug rehab programs, talented musicians
who lost their lives to drugs, entertainers who tell big lies to gain publicity, and business leaders
who manufacture products that they know are unsafe in plants that they know are hazardous to
the health of workers.
Think for a moment about why these people compromised their integrity.
Was it for money, for power, for fame? If you want your organization to have integrity, then you
must demonstrate integrity in your actions first. The organization will follow.
Every day is an opportunity to succeed or fail in your goal to live with integrity. Perhaps it will
be of some encouragement to consider Job, who after losing his family, his possessions, his great
wealth, and being stricken with painful disease said to his accusers “…till I die I shall not put my
integrity away from me” (Job 27:5).
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© Ron R. Kelleher